Home birth after previous caesarian
I woke up just after midnight on Thursday 16 March 06 feeling a bit “damp” down below! I went to the toilet (nothing obvious happening) and back to bed to try and sleep. Within 1/2hr I had what I thought might be a contraction but it was very low down and more across my pelvis. When I had 3 or 4 more about 15mins apart I realised this must be “it”. Scary!
I decided to get up thinking that if they went away, it would be a false alarm-no this was definitely labour. I went and sat on the settee in the lounge and put one of the music channels on the television! Dh got up and set about tidying up the lounge. Didn’t do much other than squeeze my stress ball during contractions - I was amazed how normal I felt in between.
At approximately 3.30am my waters definitely broke, more of a trickle though,nothing dramatic thank goodness for the sake of the settee. (Although I had been sitting on a pile of cloth nappies just in case!) I can’t remember exactly what was happening apart from the contractions were getting closer together so dh phoned the midwife at about 5.30 and she arrived at the house at 6am.
As she had brought the pool dh set about inflating it. Two hours later it still wasn’t fully inflated (aargh!) so I got into the bath which thankfully is quite deep. I wallowed in there for the next hour breathing through the contractions which were STILL very low down which surprised me as I had assumed that I would feel them higher up if not all over. The pool started to be filled at 9.00 but then the hot water ran out. By this time I was starting to feel a bit chilly so decided to get out of the bath. As I tried to change position to get out I then felt very sick and began to throw up. Nightmare! Not only was this happening but I was still having strong contractions. I’m sure this was the worst part of the labour for me.
At 9.30 I managed to get out of the bath and I sat on the toilet. At this point I felt a strong urge to push. I remember thinking “I’ve got to get off here or this baby’s going to be born in the toilet!” Fortunately I made to the dining room where the pool was which I ended up kneeling over it from the outside with my hands in the water! I tried two breaths of gas and air and decided it wasn’t working! It probably would have done if I’d given it time but I think I found it too much of a distraction at that stage!It felt to me like I’d been pushing for hours but at 10am Seren Jane was born weighing 9lb 2oz.
I transferred into the lounge and 20mins later delivered the placenta. Other than being a bit blue in colour all was well with Seren and I’m pleased to say that I didn’t tear ,especially given the size of her! The only other bit of me that hurt (apart from the obvious) was my throat from all the noise I made during pushing! I would like to thank Chrissy and Frances for their support and helping to achieve the birth I was hoping for.